Chocolate Truffle Scones

I love dark chocolate. Apparently people at my husband's workplace do, too. At least, that seems to be the only thing explaining the two separate requests I got for Chocolate, Chocolate Chip Scones. So, I started thinking about why I avoid them, and came up with the fact that they always seem to be far too dry and dense. I blame it on the unsweetened chocolate powder and the regular flour. So in making up this recipe, I opted for a mix of lighter cake flour (to be found in the baking aisle next to regular flour) and regular all-purpose flour. The results, I must say, surprised me.

Mix:

1-1/2 cups cake flour

1 cup all-purpose flour

2-1/4 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp salt

1/3 cup unsweetened chocolate powder (I used Ghiradelli Dark Chocolate)

1/4 cup brown sugar

1/2 cup (8 tbsp) cold, unsalted butter, diced

3/4 cup dark chocolate chunks (I used 60% cocoa)

3/4 cup heavy cream

1/2 cup 1% milk

1 tbsp vanilla bean paste

1 tbsp instant coffee

Instructions:
Preheat the oven to 400ºF.

In a medium sized bowl, whisk gently together the heavy cream, 1% milk, vanilla bean paste and instant coffee. Set aside.

In a large bowl, whisk together cake flour, all purpose flour, baking powder, salt, chocolate powder, and brown sugar.

Add the diced butter and work into dry ingredients with a pastry blender, two knives, or your fingertips until the mixture resembles coarse sand.

Add 3/4 cups dark chocolate chunks and mix.

Pour the liquid over the dry ingredients and combine until just mixed. Do not over knead. 

Turn out onto a lightly floured countertop and divide dough into two even pieces. Flatten each piece into a round about 1/2-inch high. Cut each round into 8 triangles.

Place the scones on a parchment-lined baking sheet and bake at 400ºF for about 13 minutes or until browned on top (you will have to look at the edges to see the color change).

Serves: 16 small scones*

*these are rich, so they are best served in small amounts.

The Process:

Everything's measured out and ready to go.

Combine the liquid ingredients now so that the instant coffee can dissolve.

Combine dry ingredients first: flours, chocolate powder, brown sugar,
baking powder, salt.

Add butter, cut in.

Mix should look like coarse sand--a few butter lumps are okay.

After adding the liquid to the dry ingredients and mixing just enough to bring together,
press out onto a lightly floured countertop to a 9-inch round.

Alternatively, you can divide the dough into two pieces and make two smaller rounds
so that you can cut small scones.

Cut the 9-inch round into 16 pieces (by cutting each large scone into two,
somewhat irregular pieces).

Or cut the two smaller rounds into 8 pieces each for more regular sized scones.

The finished product: a quite irregular, but decadently tasting scone.

Results:

These tasted like truffles. They are excellent with either a tall glass of milk or a mug of hot coffee. Great as dessert or a decadent breakfast, and wonderful for the chocolate lover in your life.

Dark Chocolate Chip Scones

Apparently, I'm on a chocolate scone kick, as this was the recipe that jumped out at me from Tea and Crumpets. I've never made a chocolate scone that tasted as good as it looked, and this was no exception. So after this attempt, I'm still in search of the ideal chocolate scone.

*I altered this recipe, adding the vanilla extract and dark chocolate chips.




Ingredients:

2 1/2 cups self-rising flour
(per 1 cup flour, add 1/2 tsp salt, & 1 1/2 tsp baking powder)
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1/4 cup unsalted butter, cut into pieces and chilled
1/2 cup dark chocolate chips
1 1/4 cup buttermilk
1 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
1 large egg yolk

Instructions:

1. Preheat the oven to 425ºF. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper.

2. Combine flour, sugar, cocoa powder and whisk together until blended. Add the butter to the dry mixture and using a pastry blender, blend until it looks like coarse sand.

3. Add the chocolate chips to the bowl and mix to distribute.

4. Combine egg yolk with the buttermilk and whisk to mix in a small bowl. Add the buttermilk mixture to the dry mixture and stir until combined.

5. Using a greased 1/4 cup measure, scoop out dough onto the parchment paper and flatten slightly so that they are uniform in height and will bake evenly.

6. Bake at 425ºF for about 18-22 minutes, or until they loose their sheen on top and/or brown. A cake tester or toothpick should come out clean when they are done.

The Process:

Flour, Buttermilk, Sugar, Cocoa Powder, Butter and Egg yolk

Dry ingredients mixed.

Buttermilk just mixed in.

Ready to go into the oven.

Coming out of the oven.

Results:

These scones could have been much better. I am American, so I'm used to chocolate being sweet, even though I prefer dark chocolate. However, these scones were a little too not-sweet for me. 

Triple Chocolate Chunk Scones

These are almost like chocolate chip cookies...but not. 


Ingredients:

2 cups all-purpose flour
1/3 cup firmly packed dark brown sugar
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
1/4 cup unsalted butter, chilled and cut into 1-inch pieces
1/2 cup buttermilk
1 large egg
1 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
3 oz bittersweet chocolate chunks
3 oz milk chocolate chips
3 oz white chocolate chips

Directions:
1. Preheat the oven to 375F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper, a silicon baking sheet or grease the sheet.

2. Whisk together the flour, brown sugar, baking powder, baking soda and salt in a large bowl.

3. Add the butter and, using a pastry blender, your fingertips or two knives in scissor fashion, cut into the dry mixture until it looks like coarse sand.

4. In a small bowl, combine the buttermilk, egg and vanilla extract and stir or whisk lightly to combine.

5. Add the chocolate to the dry mixture and stir to combine.

6. Add the buttermilk mixture to the dry mixture and stir with a wooden spoon until dough forms. It will look a bit like cookie dough.

7. Using a 1/4-cup measuring cup or a large spoon, separate the dough into 10-12 free-form scones, leaving a couple of inches between each scone.

8. Bake for 20-25 minutes or until lightly browned on top.

Nutrition:

Serving assumes the above recipe yields 12 scones.

Per serving
Calories: 286 kC
Carbs: 39 g
Fat: 13 g
Protein: 5 g
Sugar: 23 g

Measure out your ingredients: Flour
Dark Chocolate Chunks, White Chocolate Chips, Milk Chocolate Chips, Buttermilk,
Unsalted Butter cut into pieces, Brown Sugar, Egg,
Vanilla Extract, Baking Powder, Baking Soda & Salt (last three combined)

Dry mix with butter mixed in.

I prefer to add mix-ins like chocolate chips or fruit prior to adding the liquid so that it can be more consistently mixed without making the scones tough.

Add the buttermilk mixture and stir to combine.

Use a 1/4-cup measuring cup to equally divide these drop scones.

I froze my scones at this point because I wasn't ready to make them, thus my scones are much closer together than I would normally bake them. Instead, bake 6-8 to a large baking sheet, making sure they have at least two inches of room between scones.

Frozen scones ready to go in the oven. This was a good distance to have between the scones. Frozen scones baked in my oven at 375F in just over 20 minutes.

Results:
Before I review this recipe at all, I must caveat it with the fact that I don't care for either milk chocolate or white chocolate, but chose to follow this recipe verbatim anyways.

That out of the way, I was a bit disappointed with the flavor of these scones. They were, essentially, glorified chocolate chip cookies, but without either a cookie taste or scone texture. They were not as sweet as chocolate chip cookies, and not as flaky as scones.  They really fell flat for me, and I don't know that I'd make them again.

Perhaps if they were only dark chocolate scones, I would have liked them better. I also believe that the chocolate quantity overpowered the scone itself, and I would reduce the amount of chocolate in this recipe if I made it again.

I could see children or chocolate lovers appreciating this recipe as it is, so there's something to be said for that. However, as a cream-scone and traditional-scone lover, who enjoys her scones with coffee or tea in the morning, these felt more like a standalone dessert or something to bake when I'm in the mood for something chocolatey but not as sweet as a chocolate-chip cookie.

Perhaps a tall glass of milk would accompany these scones better than coffee or tea. But then, that doesn't seem much like a scone, does it?